GMO labeling bill would trump states

Food manufacturers don’t have to label products that contain genetically modified ingredients, and now they have a bill that would keep it that way.

Rep. Mike Pompeo on Wednesday morning introduced The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2014, a bill that would give ultimate authority of GMO labeling to the Food and Drug Administration, which favors a voluntary approach to the issue. The measure, which has the support of the food, biotechnology and agriculture industries, looks to nullify efforts in no less than 20 states to require mandatory labeling for foods that contain GMOs.

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“The scientific community has spoken with one voice,” the Kansas Republican said in a teleconference with reporters to promote his bill. Biotechnology is safe and “there is not a single example” of anyone getting sick after eating food made with GMOs. Requiring labels on foods that contain GMOs misleads consumers to believe that there is a health and safety risk, similar to warning labels on cigarettes, he said.

However, consumer and pro-labeling groups in favor of the state efforts are less than convinced.

“This is an unworkable proposal,” Colin O’Neil, director of government affairs for the Center for Food Safety, told reporters in a joint conference call with the Environmental Working Group and Organic Trade Association this afternoon. “We feel it reads more like a contract with the devil” than a solution to providing consumers more information about GMOs in their food.

The introduction of the bill, H.R. 4432, comes just as Vermont looks to become the first state to break through with a final vote of its state’s Senate on mandatory GMO labeling expected in the coming weeks. It’s a situation the food industry would like to avoid.

Pompeo’s 21-page bill unveiled Wednesday, which mirrors almost exactly a draft version first reported last week by POLITICO, aims to instead create a friendlier, preemptive set of federal rules to quell public concerns over GMOs and stem the tide of state bills and ballot initiatives that are proving costly for the industry to fight.

A number of states “are attempting to put together a patchwork quilt of food labeling requirements,” Pompeo said in Wednesday’s call. “That makes it enormously difficult to operate a food system with this enormous variability among all these potential laws.”

“Food is a quintessential component of interstate commerce, and we need a uniform set of standards.”

Pompeo’s bill has at least two Democrats on board. Reps. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina and Jim Matheson of Utah have signed on as cosponsors, joining Republicans Reps. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) and Ed Whitfield (Ky.).

“People like to read food labels in order to make their own personal decisions,” Blackburn said in a statement. “It makes sense to have federal legislation that will inform consumers, eliminate any confusion, and advance food safety. The legislation that Rep. Pompeo has introduced will do all of those things.”

Pompeo declined to identify other backers at Wednesday’s press event, but promised they would come.

“When you see the folks that are supporting this you will see they come from districts that truly do feed the world,” Pompeo said.

Despite the promise of more support, the prospects for Pompeo’s bill remain unclear. The measure will likely get a June or July hearing in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, of which Pompeo is a member. The committee has jurisdiction over the issue as it applies to interstate commerce. After that, there is no guarantee that it will gain floor time or a final vote, Pompeo said.